Learning disabilities

If you have a learning disability and live in Lambeth, you may be able to get support to help you with the things that are important to you and to have more control over your life. 

What is a learning disability?

If you have a learning disability you may struggle with:

  • everyday tasks, such as household chores
  • managing money
  • communicating your needs
  • interacting with others - socialising

You might find it takes longer to:

  • learn new things
  • understand complicated information

You may need support to develop new skills.

A learning disability is different for everyone. No two people are the same and it can affect you for your whole life.

What support can you get

If you have eligible care and support needs, our Community Adult Learning Disabilities Team may be able to provide support. They can help you to become as independent as possible, maximise your links within the local community and enhance your strengths by offering:

  • advice and information about what is available in your local community, including links to:
    • advocacy support (DASL)
    • benefits advice - for information about claiming disability benefits or direct payments, viist the paying for care section
    • housing options - support to make sure you have appropriate housing
    • accessible transport - if you find it difficult to get around, see our travel and transport webpages
    • day activities – ie day centre, work and community opportunities, including our in-house day centre and extra care housing, The Crescent. Visit our day care webpage
  • support at home, for example, learning to cook or help with your personal care, providing both inhouse and outreach support via domiciliary care or other support agencies, such as Key Ring.
  • support to find a job or learning opportunities
  • support to access activities you are interested in
  • help with keeping safe at home and in the community
  • help to move from children's services to adult's services
  • access to our shared lives scheme
  • support to help you stay healthy 
  • specialist occupational therapy (OT) support 

Assessment by an occupational therapist (OT)

Occupational therapists (OTs) support people to take part in daily activities that help them lead healthy and active lives. They aim to make everyday tasks easier for you.

To help people with learning disabilities live independently within their home, occupational therapists carry out assessments to see what special equipment and adaptations are needed.

Our occupational therapists who specialise in learning disabilities, can help you think about what is important to you, what is challenging and how you can do things differently. This may be through developing new skills or practicing and enhancing current ones.

Lambeth Learning Disability Assembly (LLDA)

The LLDA is a place for people with a learning disability and their carers to come together to talk about things that are affecting them, and what they want to see happen. 

It is run by family carers and people with learning disabilities.

The job of the assembly is to make sure that the voice of the person with the disability is heard by everyone that makes the decisions that affect them, such as:

  • the council
  • the Clinical Commissioning Group
  • hospital trusts
  • the health and wellbeing board
  • the police
  • social care commissioners

Find out when the next meeting is, on the LLDA website. 

Carers’ Hub Lambeth 

Carer’s Hub Lambeth is a charity offering services and support to unpaid carers.

You might want to take a break from caring while the person you care for is looked after by someone else.

If you feel this would be beneficial for yourself, or the person you care for, contact the Lambeth Learning Disability Team to discuss how this can be arranged.

Signposting to other services

We work with a range of local partners and can direct you to other services to ensure you get the best support possible, such as:

Our goal is to make sure everyone leads a healthy, independent and safe life.

Make a referral

We accept referrals for people who are:

  • 18 years or over
  • live in Lambeth 
  • have a diagnosed learning disability and/or autism
  • have eligible support needs

We can accept self-referrals and referrals from carers, family members or advocates, health professionals, GPs or voluntary sector partners. 

To make a professional referral, please use our adult social care professionals referral form.

If you think a vulnerable adult with learning disabilities might be experiencing abuse or neglect, please report a safeguarding concern.

What happens next

A social worker will normally meet the person with a learning disability to find out what their needs are.

Usually, the social worker will talk to the person’s carer too in addition to anyone else involved in their care and then will assess the person’s needs and decide if they can get help. This may be in the form of council funded support, if an individual is eligible under the Care Act 2014, or if not, in the form of signposting.

They’ll also find out what the person with learning disabilities wants, and what help will work best for them. If eligible for services, the social worker will write a plan to meet the person's care and support needs.

Get help from us

To find out how we can help you, contact us by:

Call 020 7926 5555

  • Select Adults, then
  • Option 1 (for those with no current adult social care service)
  • Option 2 (for those with an adult social care service) 
  • Option 3 (safeguarding matters only) 
  • Option 4 (all other enquiries) 

Post at Learning Disabilities Service, London Borough of Lambeth, PO Box 80771, London, SW2 9QQ